Pharmaceutical chemicals in the form of liquids and powders may be stored for use in vials. Vials are typically sealed by a rubber stopper, a metal foil positioned over the stopper and over the vial's flange, as well as a port to access the vial. Vials come in a variety of opening sizes such as 5 cc, 10 cc, and 20 cc among others.
The common method of extracting medicine from a vial is to advance a needle or pointed device into a stopper and draw product from the vial. This procedure has its downside. The use of a traditional syringe with a needle creates the potential for accidental injuries, and contamination of the healthcare worker with blood borne transmittable diseases or with dangerous pharmaceutical such as alkylating agents or antimetabolites particularly utilized in the field of oncology where many fluids may be harmful if touched or inhaled. Other methods involve the use of various needle-free vial adapters that may still include an unprotected sharp piercing member that exposes the health care professional to the same type of dangers while she tries to insert the adapter into the vial.
In an effort to combat the needle stick hazard, various types of adapters have been introduced in the market. They all appear to possess shortcomings which hinder widespread acceptance by medical practitioners. For example, adapters are supplied as separate components and they are configured to be manually inserted within a vial by a skilled health care practitioner who is required to pierce the vial by forcing the sharp piercing member of an adapter against the rubber stopper of the vial. In some situations, it may be difficult for an adapter to efficiently penetrate a stopper due to variations in depth or thickness of its rubber. Additionally, the force with which the sharp piercing member is advanced to a stopper may cause the stopper to become trapped within the passage in the neck of a vial.
It is also undesirable to use an adapter that does not have the capability of extracting the entire pharmaceutical for various reasons. Using an adapter that needs insertion into a vial may create an insecure assembly that allows fluid to leak between vial and the adapter. In addition, many adapters do not provide a sealed connection with a syringe; thus, wasting expensive product in the process of extraction.
Manufacturers of medical adapters consider keeping costs as low as possible without compromising the safety and effectiveness of the device. Most adapters are composed of numerous parts that must be sealed together to form a complete kit. This process may be unnecessarily cumbersome. Furthermore, hospitals and clinics are mindful of the expense involved in purchasing numerous types and sizes of adapters to fit the various vial closures. To overcome many of these deficiencies, there has been recognized the need for a device which comprises a unified part and is capable of high speed manufacturing while minimizing the opportunity of malfunction.
Further, a need has been recognized for a leakage-free device capable of forming a continuously closed system, the system effectively sealing the fluid passageway from the environment during the insertion of a needle-free device.